There Is Only One Sinnacle

Schalke 04′s German goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is being tracked by Manchester United according to the player’s agent Thomas Kroth. (German newspaper Bild)

You have to take what agents say with a grain of salt most times. I’m sure Manchester United is interested in Manuel Neuer but don’t see them making a move in the January transfer window. Once Edwin van der sar calls it a day United should go after either Neuer or Igor Akinfeev. Can’t go wrong with either.

Chelsea look set to shake off competition from Inter Milan to seal a £40m-plus deal for Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Aguero would possibly fit in better with Inter Milan considering the many players from Argentina already on the squad but in a fight as to who can spend the most I’m sure Chelsea would win that battle.

Atletico Madrid have turned down a £44m offer for Argentinean Aguero and are holding out for the £50m they believe he is worth. (Daily Star)

This is why clubs and players have release clauses. Takes the guess work out of it. Chelsea knows what they will need to spend.

Former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant, who is currently with Real Zaragoza, is a target for Aston Villa. Daily Mirror

Why? I actually kinda like Pennant but Stewart Downing is going to have trouble catching a game for Aston Villa with James Milner and Ashley Young out wide. Pennant would just be fourth on the depth chart.

Manchester City left-back Wayne Bridge and right-back Micah Richards are facing the axe as manager Mark Hughes looks to sharpen up his defence. The Sun

Or you can blame Kolo Toure and Joleon Lescott but considering Mark Hughes spent 40 million for the pair he’d look like a fool to blame them at this point.

West Ham’s owners have insisted they do not have to sell £10m-rated Matthew Upson in January despite the club’s financial problems. (Daily Star)

But they would.

Arsenal forward Andrey Arshavin feels that manager Arsene Wenger will need to go on a spending spree to save Arsenal’s season. Full story: The Sun

Little chance of this happening. Not often a player like Arshavin comes around in the January transfer window at a decent price.

Wenger looks set to renew his interest in Bordeaux forward Marouane Chamakh but the French side are adamant that the Morroco international will not be leaving in January. (Daily Star)

Bordeaux is not going to do Arsenal any favours even if it means losing Chamakh on a free transfer in the summer. With Eduardo misfiring against Chelsea could see why Arsenal is linked with a bunch of strikers.

Other players interesting Wenger include Andre-Pierre Gignac of Toulouse, AC Milan’s Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Mario Balotelli of Inter Milan and Sampdoria’s Giampaolo Pazzini. The Sun

Case in point.

Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez believes that former United team-mate Wayne Rooney is a better player than international colleague and Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi. Daily Mirror

Surely something was lost translation when Tevez said this in Spanish.

Yes I know I posted this last month but guess someone jumped the gun with those seeds. Below is the official World Cup seeding straight from FIFA. Not bitter with Portugal not being a top seed, hell I still consider myself lucky Portugal is in the World Cup. Still any seeding with England and the Netherlands ahead of Portugal I’m not buying considering Portugal knocked both countries out of Euro 2004 and the last World Cup. “Oh but Portugal struggled in Qualifying,” you might say. True but so did Argentina and they are a top seed. Ok, enough with my whining here are the seeds for this Friday’s draw (12 noon eastern time)

Pot 1 (seeds): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England

Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania and North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Mexico, Honduras

Pot 3 (Africa and South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia

Looking in my Crystal Ball which has been cloudy lately here is my gut feeling who Portugal will be grouped with.

Brazil
North Korea
Algeria
Portugal

Beckenbauer not a fan of Dunga’s Brazil

Germany legend Franz Beckenbauer does not like Brazil’s style of play under coach Dunga, and would prefer to see the current Seleção Brasileira play like their 1970s counterparts.

Article

When you are the only man to win a World Cup as a player and coach you can pretty much say what you want. No denying Beckenbauer resume nor class as a person. Considering his standing in world football I don’t recall anyone saying a bad word about the person.

With that out of the way Beckenbauer had some interesting comments regarding Brazil at the Soccerex business convention. (whatever that is)

“If you talk about Brazil, then in my mind it is the team (that won the World Cup) from 1970,”

“He can play in a circus but he’s not a team player. I don’t know this Brazil. I don’t like the style the team play,”

Everyone loves the 1970 Brazil team, it’s the best team ever put together. You know what the 1982 Brazil team was a pretty good team too which everyone loved and Dunga famously called Zico a professional loser. Dunga saw those 1982/1986 World Cup teams fail and those failures molded him as a player leading into the 1994 World Cup. Fast forward to the 2006 World Cup and Dunga must of seen a fantasy team with big names like Ronaldo and Adriano not living up with the pre tournament hype, with Kaka and Ronaldinho tripping over themselves in midfield.

With Dunga it’s not so much names but how a player fits in to the overall eleven. Each player has to serve a purpose and there won’t be another player out there who will also serve the same purpose. Beckenbauer failed to mention Luis Fabiano who every time he wears a Brazil shirts seems to score a pair of goals. The game has changed with most of the Brazilian squad now playing in Europe a coach like Dunga has to adapt their style of play to a European approach that most of these Brazilian players are now accustom too.

Barcelona midfielder Yaya Toure is seeking a move to Manchester United or Chelsea after being omitted from the line-up to face Real Madrid on Sunday. Full story: Daily Mirror

The last thing either Manchester United or Chelsea need is a hard working midfielder who doesn’t score goals. Both books have enough of those types of players to begin with.

Chelsea target Sergio Aguero has admitted he is prepared to leave Atletico Madrid, but the forward would prefer to move in the summer. Daily Star

I’m sure Didier Drogba would also prefer Aguero to wait until the summer as not to disturb the form he is in this season.

Birmingham manager Alex McLeish wants to spend his January transfer kitty on strikers, with Valencia’s Nikola Zigic and Standard Liege’s Milan Jovanovic his main targets: Daily Mirror

Zigic has been long rumoured to make a jump to the premier league against his expensive transfer to Valencia hasn’t panned out. Zigic would at least give Peter Crouch someone he can look eye to eye with.

Arsenal are lining up a move for Sevilla winger Diego Perotti. The 21-year-old has a £20m buy-out clause at the La Liga club.
Full story: Daily Mirror

Could give you £20 million reasons why Arsenal won’t make a move. Wenger buys players a year or two before they are prime to make a break through and Sevilla won’t sell Perotti for a penny less than his buy out clause.

Roma are favourites to sign Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko in January. (Various)

Or you can say Roma are the only ones who want to sign Roman Pavlyuchenko.

Everton midfielder Tim Cahill has admitted the club is in “big trouble” but is backing the Merseysiders to pull clear of the relegation fight. (Various)

Going to be a forgettable year for Everton it seems.